,&3 



> 

X 



lrming recommended to young men. 



) V 



AN 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE FARMERS' CLUB, 



IN LENOX, FEB. 21, 1854. 



r>Y REV. NAHUM GALE. 



LEE, MASS.: 
PRINTED BY FRENCH k. ROYCE 



Lerrfx, Feb. 24, 1854. 

Bet. Nahum Gale : 

Dear Sir, — It gives us pleasure to serve as a Committee to present you the thanks 
of the Farmers' Club, for the Address this day delivered ; and to request a copy of the 
same for publication. In presenting this request, permit us to express the belief that 
the Address is timely to the wants of the community, and that its piiblication will be 
productive of good. 



Very respectfully yours. 



Luther Botleb, 
A. P. Smith, 
Alexander Hyde. 



Lee, tch. 25, 18."i4. 

Gentlemen,— I r, in your judgment, my Address will in any measure subserve the 
Farming interest, it is at your disposal. 

Be pleased to accept my thanks for your approbation of my humble services. 

With the higliest respect, 



N. Gale. 



Messrs. Luther Butler, 1 

A. P. Smith, ')■ Committee. 

Alexander Hyde, 



1^, 



^i< 



' J'''''\ Xt'iun\ 



a-s^3 ADDRESS. 



Ladies and (tp:xtlemex, 

Or ratlier, Ladies and Lords, as I will venture to 
call you, not without tlie sanction of liigli autliority. For 
the word lord, according to Adam Clark, Cotton Mather, 
and others, is from two old Saxon words, one meaning " a 
loaf," and the other, "to supply." A lord, then, is a 
"sup])lier of Ijread." A fai'mer, surely, is- a lord. 
And, according to the same authority, the word lady 
means a " distributor of bread." Who can deny that 
farmers' wives and daughters are ladies ? In apply- 
ing these high-sounding titles of honor to the mem- 
bers, active and honorary, of a Farmers' Club, I do not 
at all fear of detracting from the respectal)ility of other 
professions ; for we are all farmers, or the children of 
farmers. Loi'd Adam and Lady Eve were the first of 
this profession, Avho cultivated a large garden somewhere 
near the river Eu])lirates. 

Their descendant, Noah, at the age of six hundred, 
" began to be an husbandman," and the homestead be- 
coming too small for his increasing family, some of the 
younger bi'anches " moved West," and so we are hei-e. 

We can thus, you see, all trace our descent from the 
first farmei', Adam. This was the employment which 
(rod a.ssigned to man at his creation. We read, "The 
Lord took tlie man, and put him into the garden t<^ dress 



it am\ to keep it." This wa^ while Adam was holy. Hor- 
ticultural aiul aiiTioultural laLor, thei'efore, w;\s uo j^art of 
tlie curse, that t'oUoAved the fall of man. Adaui was as- 
signed this work in the open air, in a g'ard(ii,ani()iii'- trees, 
while he was ])ure in heart, and in fellowship with his 
Creator. Such laboi', then, nmst liaxe 1)een for man's 
highest good. It was also honorable in the highest de- 
gree; for God would not have placed the noble T)eing, 
created in his own image, and made lord <>f the lowei" 
creation, in a degraded situation. 

The placing of Adam in Eden, that lovely s|)()t, seems 
also to teach, that man was designed to dwell amid such 
scenes, that there was a fitness in his nature for the eiijo}- 
ment of natural objects of Ijeauty. Adam was directed 
to " diTSS and kee])" the ga^den ; which should remind us 
that God would have even Eden improved and adorned 
by the hand of man. It is not true, as some farmers seem 
to think, that it matters not how disorderly an<l deformed 
things appear a})out the lK)use, and garden and fences, 
provided only they can fill their barns and their cellars. 
God made man to enjoy an earthly paradise, — to hear 
J )leasant. sounds, to see beautiful objects, to taste delicious 
fruits. It is Avorthy of notice, also, that the first intellec- 
tual work which was assigned to Adam, was connected 
with agriculture. We read, "Out of the ground the Lord 
God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of 
the air, and l)rought them unto Adam, to see Avhat he 
would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every 
living creatvire, that was the name thereof i\nd Adam 
gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and 
to th(i beast of the field." Thus the Lord, intending to 
make our first father an intelligent fai'mer, gave him im- 
mediately something to study. lie told Adam to think 
out a}»pro])riate names for the animals. fJod did not tell 



liiin what tlie names of the beasts aud the birds should 
be, l)nt he was made to study their structure, habits, and 
uses, and then give them names. And if he called each 
b}^ a name as appropriate as the one he gave his wife, he 
exercised a better judgment, and purer taste, than many 
do even now in namhig their children. No doubt the 
Eden farmer spent many a pleasant and thoughtful hour 
in studying the lion, the sheep, the ostrich, and the heii ; 
and then they received their names. Truly, the first far- 
mer Aras a tliinkin<>' man. 

Passing, now, from these facts respecting agriculture in 
Eden, we cannot fail to notice, that nations have advanced 
in strength, in moral wortli, in a healthy civilization, and 
in all that constitutes the true glory of man, about in the 
ratio of their attachment to tilling and subduing the 
earth. And, on the other hand, they have become weak 
and degraded ; have melted away, and been scattered and 
peeled as they have undervalued and neglected this lirst 
pursuit of man. 

The patriarchs of good re})ort were all farmers, or 
herdsmen. Lot, to l)e sure, went to a city to improve his 
fortune, l)ut it was the great mistake of his life. He soon 
lost all his property, and well nigh made a moral wreck 
of his entire family. God took special care to make his 
chosen people agriculturalists. He gave in Canaan every 
family a piece of land, Avhich could not be alienated. The 
l:>est days of Israel were under the reign of her shepherd 
king, when the valleys were covered with corn, and the 
cattle grazed upon a thousand hills. The true gloi'y of 
the nation began to depart when Solomon formed a com- 
mercial partnership witli Hiram, and imported with " the 
navy of Tarshish," " gold and silver, ivory, apes, and pea- 
cocks." 



The best leaders of Israel, both in church and state, 
were selected from the tillers of the soil, and the keepers 
of flocks. Da^^d exchanged his crook for a sce])tre ; and 
Elisha, when called to be a prophet, was plowing with 
twelve yoke of oxen. 

In the early years of the Roman T'e])nl)lic, the citizens 
were di\ided into classes, and those employed in agricul- 
ture ranked first. Seven acres of land were alloAved to 
each farmer. From the sturdy yeomanry on these little 
ftirms were selected the civil and military officers of the 
state. The Romans were such an agricultural people, that 
they named " their nolde families after the bean, the pea, 
the lentile, vetches, and other plants ; retaining the so- 
briety, frugality, and all the I'igid xdrtues of a life in the 
tiehls. These are the peoj)le to sutler a censorship, in 
wliich every licentious and effeminate habit shall ex})Ose 
the subject to a public degradation." These were the 
puritans of the old Pagan world. " Cato dined upon 
bread ])aked by his wife, and turnips l)oiled by himself" 
Then, Rome wa> free and pros2")erous. . In after ages, when 
luxury had corrupted the young men, and agi'iculture was 
despised, and given u]) to an ignorant and degraded pea- 
santry, the people lost all manly vigor, and sunk down 
into the grave of nations. In the Eastern world, at tlie 
present day, we see a miserable, scpialid, half-starved jwim- 
lation, neglecting a soil that agriculture might make as 
the garden of the Lord. But the people will not till the 
ground, and the Government protects nothing but its owu 
tyranny. So the valleys of the Jordan lie waste, while 
Israelite l)eggars are swarming in the streets of JeriLsalem. 
If the East could be settled by an independent yeomanry, 
so that every man might sit beneath his own vine and tig 
tree, the land of the ])atriaiclis Avould again become a 
goodly land, — a lan<l flowing with milk and honey. 



The importance attached to the farmer's calling in this 
Commonwealth by the Representatives of the people, 
may be seen l)y two facts. Since 1831, the County Agri- 
cultural Societies have received from the State treasury, 
for the encouragement of agriculture, more than $125,000. 
And recently, a Board of Agriculture has been estal^lished, 
and a permanent secretary employed, to devote his whole 
time to the furtherance of the farmhig interest. What 
other business or profession has such favors from the 
State ? 

But it is time to leave these general remarks upon the 
importance of agriculture, and its influence upon national 
prosperity, for something more directly practical. With 
this view, allow me to offer, for your consideration, some 
thoughts upon the advantages of agriculture to young 
men, as a means of livelihood. I would not forget that 
" the profit of the earth Ls for all ; the king himself is 
served by the field." Yet, my remarks will have special 
reference to the sons (^f farmers. I would commend this 
occupation of their fathers to their special notice, that 
they may appreciate it more highly, and be less inclined 
to leave it for other secular callings. 

1. Agriculture commends itself to young men, espe- 
cially to farmers' sons, as a means of securing good health 
and long life. 

That farmers are more healthy and longer lived than 
any other class, is a truth well known. From 1843 to 
1851, the average duration of human life in this Com- 
monwealth was as follows: — Farmers, 64.02; Merchants, 
46.01 ; Mechanics, 46.12 ; Professional Men, 48.45 : aver- 
age, age of all, 51.94. From this table it appears that 
farmers live, on an average, eighteen years longer than 
the average of the entire male population of the State. 
The open air, the vigorous exercise, the wholesome food. 



the quiet sleep, the regular life of the farmer, £rive him a 
great aih'aiitage, its renjjects health, over all other classes 
in the community. 

2, The pui'suits of Agriculture are also favorable to the 
healthy action of the mind. It is a significant fact, that 
in our lletreats for the Insane, the occupation of the 
patients is always gardening and tilling the soil. This 
work is best adapted to restore a healthy tone to the 
body, and thus it " ministers" to the " mind diseased." 

Farming is also favorable to the development of tht 
sane mind. I am aware that the farmer can be ignorant, 
and live almost ^as free from tht)ught as the plow he follows, 
but his occupation demands constant and varied mental 
exercise. To conduct the various operations of agricul- 
ture on a New England fann, there must be planning and 
contriving — the adaptation of means to ends. The farmer 
needs to observe accurately, to watch various processes 
and results, Avhich conduces to the lial^it of thinking care- 
fully, soberly, and with good connnon sense. All trades 
and occu])ati')ns that require men to do only one thing, 
and bring large numbers to act under the direction of 
one leading mind, are unfavorable to mental strength and 
c< )mprehensi veness. 

The weaver Avho tends a ] )OA\'er-looni needs but little 
mental work to keej) his hands emj)loyed. Another 
l)uilds his mill and his loom, buys his w<^ol and sells his 
cloth. If his loom is out of re})air, he stands idle till 
another's skill jnits it in order. All he has to do is to 
watch the threads of the warp, that they kee]) in place, 
and till the shuttle with the material which forms the 
woof. This business is the same thing to-day that it was 
yesterday, — the same this year that it was last. Now])ut 
this weaver on to the land, and let him learn to do all 
kin<ls of fann-work, — to raise all 'kinds of produce, — to 



adapt his crops and his culture to the various soils of his 
farm, and the varied seasons as they pass, — let him find 
his own market and make his own bargains, and will not 
this mode of life make him more of a man ? . 

A few years ago, we were told that there were twenty 
trades in making a pin. In the division of labor, every 
pin passed through twenty hands before it was ready for 
'"■-e market. What must have been the grasp and ex]mn- 
an of a man's intellect who was the twentieth part of a 
in-maker ? In Europe, large companies of men are em- 
ployed in making children's toys. One paints dolls' eyes. 
Ever since he can remember, he has done nothing else, — 
he knows how to do nothing else, — he exjoects to do this 
one thing to the end of his life. This is the mighty work 
that calls forth his intellectual powers ! His thoughts, 
his plans, his cares, and his anxieties, so far as his business 
is concerned, are all centered in this object, — to give the 
fascinating languor, the l)ewitching ogle to the eye of a 
child's doll! 

How different the work of the farmer ! He lives in 
the lal)oratory of Nature, — interesting ]>henomena are 
continually passing Ijefore him, — he is called to change 
his thoughts, his plans, and his labors, as the seasons come 
and go. if his mind is not developed, the fault is not in 
his occupation. 

3. Again ; Agriculture commends itself to the young 
man, because it is favorable to virtue. It is well known 
that an agricultural population is the most free of all 
classes from the vices that call for the exercise of civil 
authority. Rural districts are seldom visited by the dis- 
orderly and the lawless, who disturb the quiet of the 
street and the dwelling. And where do morals that are 
of good report most flourish ? Is it not where the farm- 
2 



10 

house peeps forth from behind green trees, in the valley, 
or crowns the verdant hill-side ? 

The influence of land-holding upon character is highly 
salutary. The man who l)uilds a cottage, and lays out 
his garden around it, and plants there tre'es and shrubs, 
thereby gives bonds to society for his good behavior. By 
owning land, he becomes a substantive in the community. 
He has a deeper interest in the preservation of good 
order — in the promotion of the public good. 

It might be easily shown that a. farming community 
have not the temptation to vice, or the facilities for prac- 
tising it, that they have who dwell in the crowded street. 
In our rural districts, then, we must look for the lingering 
of a puritan morality; and when virtue flees from the 
fireside of the farmer, she departs from the abodes of 

man. 

" God made the country, and man made the town ; 
What wonder, then, that health and virtue, gifts 
That can alone make sweet the bitter drauglit 
That life holds out to all, should most abound 
And least be threatened in tbe fields and groves." 

4. I am persuaded, also, that Agriculture might be 
shown to be a lucrative employment, if books were kept, 
and the profits of farming accurately calculated. One 
farmer tells us that " grass will yield thirteen per cent, on 
the investment." And corn, at fifty cents a bushel, can 
be raised with six per cent, profit on the capital, after 
paying all expenses. 

The first Keport of the Massachusetts Board of Agri- 
culture presents some statements from farmers, as to the 
profits of their business, which are very contradictory ; 
and show that they all cannot be based on an accurate 
induction of facts. One says " the profits of farming are 



11 

very small ; very many of the farmers say that they are 
not over one per cent., but I have ventured to say as high 
as two or three." Another practical farmer gives it as 
his opinion, " based upon his own ex]3erience," that the 
profits of farming are "ten per cent., after paying all 
expenses and labor." Another farmer shows that pork 
can be fattened at a profit of "more than eleven per cent, 
on the outlay." " There can be a profit," says another, 
" of seventy-five per cent, realized on native fowls." 

Taking all the answers returned as to the profits of all 
branches of farming, " the average in the State is a little 
over four-and-a-half per cent." These returns show, be- 
yond a question, that most of them are mere guesses. 

To induce you, if possible, to investigate this su1)ject 
more accurately, I will present a few items from the Cen- 
sus Returns. According to these, 

The Farms in Massaclmsetts in 1850 were worth $109,070,347 
Farming Implements, - - - - 3,209,584 

Stock, . - - . . 9,647,700 



Total, $121,933,631 

This is the capital invested. The annual value of agri- 
cultural products in Massachusetts, as estimated by a 
careful farmer, from the Census Returns, cannot l)e less 
than $16,000,000, without reckoning the value of the 
wood grown, which must be a large sum. 

It cannot be denied that figures may deceive, but 
they are full as reliable as guesses. Compare the profit 
of farming ^^'ith that of other occupations, and what are 
the results ? 

As to the profits of manufacturing, it is known that 
forty of the principal manufacturing companies in New 
England, with an aggregate capital of $33,000,000, divi- 



12 

ded less than seven per cent, per annum for the ten years 
previous to 1849 : Avhile thirteen of the companies, with 
$8,000,000 capital, made less than five per cent.; and 
many smaller establishments either lost money or failed. 

Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn, for nearly twenty years col- 
lector, of the port of Boston, made the following statement 
in an address, at an Agricultural meeting in the State 
House, in 1840: — "The chances of success in trade are 
much less numerous, and are more uncertain, than men 
generally believe, or are willing to alloAv. After an ex- 
tensive acquaintance with business men, and having long 
been an attentive oljserver of the course of events in the 
mercantile community, I am satisfied that, among one 
hundred merchants and traders, not more than three, in 
this city, ever acquired indei)eiidence. * * * Infinitely 
better, therefore, would it be for a vast portion of our 
young men who leave the country for the city, if they 
could be satisfied with a farmer's life. How preferable 
would it have been for many of those who have sought 
distinction in cities, if they had been satisfied with the 
comfc^rts, innocent amusements, and soothing quietude of 
the country." 

In Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, it is stated, that of one 
hundred traders on Lons: Wharf, in 1800, onlv five re- 
mained at the end of forty years. The rest had failed, or 
died destitute. It is further stated, that " of one thousand, 
having accounts at the Massachusetts Bank, in 1800, only 
six remained in 1840. All the nine hundred and ninety- 
four had failed or died in poverty." " Out of one hun- 
dred estates settled at the Probate Court at Boston, ninety 
were insolvent." 

Nor are mercantile pursuits any safer in other cities. 
" It is asserted that but one eminent merchant has ever 
continued in active business, in the city of New York, to 



13 

the close of a long life, without undergoing bankruptcy, 
or a suspension of payments in some one of the various 
crises through which the country has passed." " In Phila- 
delphia, the number of merchants that have succeeded in 
business, taking a period of -twenty-five years, is estimated 
at one per cent. ; and in New York at two per cent, only." 

Admitting that some of these statements are "news- 
paper facts^" still they have been made by respectable 
periodicals, and by men of extensive information and 
undoubted veracity, and have not been contradicted from 
any quarter. 

This is the business of " glorious uncertainty," for which 
boys are leaving school before they are half educated, and 
farms on which their fathers would rejoice to make them 
independent. It is not long since a firm in Boston " ad- 
vertised for a clerk, and at the end of twenty-four hours, 
there- had been two hundred and eighty-seven aj^j^licants." 

Now how is it with farmers? Do they succeed no 
better ? An intelligent gentleman tells us, that out of 
eighteen cases of bankruptcy, and eighteen of insolvency, 
which had come to his knowledge, only one indi\ddual 
was a farmer, and he paid one hundred cents on a dollar, 
and had something left. Not a bad failure, surely. The 
Hon. Mr. Denny, of Westboro', some years since, exam- 
ined the bankrupt list in the office of the Secretary of 
State, and found, among the eleven hundred and twelve 
bankrupts in this Commonwealth, during eleven months, 
only fourteen were called farmers ; and he found, on in- 
quiry, that three of the fourteen did not fail by farming, 
and he doubted whether any of the number did. Another 
gentleman tells us, that out of one hundred farmers in the 
circle of his acquaintance, there has not been a failure for 
forty years. Can this be said of one hundred men in any 
other business during an equal number of years? The 



14 

opinion has been publicly expressed by a man of sound 
judgment, tliat, " Take two thousand young men, and 
let one thousand attend to farming, and the other one 
thousand attend to mercantile business, and in twenty 
years the farmers will, in the aggregate, accumulate the 
most property." The Hon. Mr. Calhoun, late Secretary 
of State for Massachusetts, gives it as his opinion, that 
" farming business is more profitable, if carried on with 
spirit and enterprise, than any other business ; and tliat a 
larger proportion of farmers succeed in their business 
than of any other profession." 

The profits of agi-iculture are so certain and constant, 
that, in a series of years, it has the advantage of the 
lucky and unlucky years of other business. When the 
commercial crisis comes, and telegraph wires tremble from 
city to city with the sad tidings of wrecked foi'tunes, — ^\'hen 
the principal and the indorser, the insurer and the in- 
sured, go down together by some SAveeping fraud or fire, 
the farmer's feet stand firm on his broad acres. The solid 
earth beneath him has not slid away. His stock in his 
barn is at })ar. His bank of loam j)ays large dividends. 
He sleeps soundly, for come what may in the tumultuous 
world of business, his title is good to solid caj)ital, extend- 
ing down four thousand miles, till he meets the boundary 
of the tea-field of his neighbor the Chinese, and upward 
to tlie top of the atmosphere, at least fort}'-five miles. 

Well may a man in this condition live twelve years 
longer than his fellow-citizens of other professions. The 
history of evei-y town in the Commonwealth may be 
examined, — statistical tallies may be compared, — the tes- 
timony of the best judges be taken, — the results of obser- 
vation be consulted, and the united verdict of all wiU be, 
that farmers, as a body, have more indej)endence, better 
health, longer life, fewer vexations, more leisure time, and 



15 

more real comforts of life, than any other class of equal 
numbers. 

Notwithstanding these truths, agriculture is very unpo- 
pular with young men. Old Massachusetts has agricul- 
tural tastes and habits. Young Massachusetts loves to 
trade and speculate, — " operate," as the phrase is. There 
are many young men who would not take as a gift a good 
farm in the vicinity of a large town, and obligate them- 
selves to cultivate it through life. They will not live on 
a farm upon any conditions. Young men, who might 
begin farming at the age of twenty-one, with a compe- 
tence, even at that early age will quit the soil as if the 
miasma of death arose from the turf. Leaving their grey- 
haired fathers to break down under their weight of cares, 
young men, in the delirium of ho^^e, desert the farm, and 
rush into some business already overdone, and well-nigh 
ruined by competitors. They will run any hazards, incur 
all risks of health, and life, and moral character, in des- 
perate enterprises, air-born speculations, and reckless for- 
tune-huntmg, rather than endure the moderate labor, and 
receive the certain gains of the husbandman. 

But it is time to inquire for the causes of this aversion 
to agriculture, on the part of young men, even those who 
are sons of farmers. 

1. The retirement and quiet of the farmer's life is one 
reason why it is not agreeable to many young men. There 
is not enough noise and excitement on the farm to suit 
their tastes. There is not company, and talk, and sport 
enough there, to make the evenings pleasant. There is a 
great love among the young for the localities and pursuits 
connected with the din of the street, and the hum of the 
shop, — with the fun and frolic of the merry company, — • 
with the novelty of city sight-seeing, and the luxury and 
dissipation of life " in town." This kind of life, where one 



16 

can be relieved from the burden of liimself, — can enjoy 
the evening tlieatre, and the Sabbath lide, — can be car- 
ried along life by relays of novelties and change of enter- 
tainments, holds out great attractions to many a youth, 
impatient it may be of wholesome parental restraint, and 
eager to quaff life's cup of pleasure while it sparkles at 
the brim. 

2. Another cause for this aversion to farming is found 
in the regularity and slowness of its gains. There is a 
passion among young men to become suddenly rich. Pro- 
pose to a young man a business that is sure, yet promises 
only moderate returns, and he is one of a thousand if he 
will engage in that business. He has heard of fortunes 
made in a year, or in a month, and he is looking for such 
a ticket in life's lottery. Many are making haste to be 
rich. Young men seem to think they are doing nothing 
to any purpose unless they are coining money. They are 
impatient to " operate," and what charms for them have 
the " old oaken bucket," and the " deep-tangled wild- 
wood ?" 

Can we not perceive a change, within a few years, in 
the minds of young men, respecting the accumulation of 
property? When some of us were boys, young men 
served long apprenticeships, — " gave away" many years to 
learn a trade, and were contented to begin active life 
when " out of their time," in a moderate and safe way. 
The foundation of many fortunes was thus laid, and what 
is more, the foundation of a good business and moral 
character was laid at the same time. But now, young 
men are in such a hurry, that they cannot stop to learn a 
trade, or to gather the fruits of farming upon a young 
man's capital. They want to begin where their fathers 
end. They must have a fortune at once. Formerly, many 
were well satisfied with a business that supported a family, 



IT 

and added a little annually to their capital. How few 
at the present time look upon such a condition as pros- 
perity. " Ten thousand a-year," " a heap" of gold-dust, is 
the prize that iills the eye of " Young America." 

Farming can promise no such rapid accumulation. 
Its returns are comparatively moderate, as an offset to 
their certainty. Farming has no great prizes to be 
scrambled after, or to be gambled for. It is a " slow and 
sure" business, promising an honest livelihood this year, 
competence by and by, and independence when grey 
hairs begin to thicken. From such a business many young 
men turn away with disgust. To think of being indus- 
trious and economical for a number of years before they 
can be rich, is a thouo^ht that chills their hot blood. With 
them it must be something or nothing,- and that speedily. 
" Make or break," is their business motto. Hence the 
rage for speculation in Eastern lumber. Western land, city 
lots under water, fancy stocks, and gold digging. 

3. Still another cause for the unpopularity of farming, 
and one more honoral)le to young men, has been assigned. 
"It is the neglect among farmers to make their homes 
pleasant and attractive." A writer in an agricultural 
periodical has expressed some thoughts on this sul^ject, 
which are worthy of serious attention. He says, — 

" Everything about the farmer's home exerts a control- 
ing influence upon the hearts of the young. In the city, 
a thousand things attract and interest: in the country, 
home is, or should be, the point of attraction, — the load- 
stone of life, and there the aftections should be made to 
centre, and the social virtues congregate. However hum- 
ble the dwelling, if it have a j^leasing form, good propor- 
tion or symmetry — qualities which add nothing to tlie 
cost of building, depending solely on the good judgment 
and taste of him who builds : and if the grounds about 



18 

are tastefully planned and planted with trees and flower- 
ini^ slirubs, with some of onr charming climbing i nses and 
vines intersj)ersed ; depend upon it, you have a strong 
hold upon the boys, — they will seldom wander from such 
a home, except to plant one for themselves. Where these 
attachments to home are wanting, — where there is no 
external sign of beauty to awaken love in the young, there . 
you may look for a dislike of farming and rural hfe." 

4. To these causes I will venture to add one more. The 
young man on the farm is apt to think, that if he is a far- 
mer, he shall not receive that consideration from others 
that he can secm'e in other business. 

If this were so, I could not find it in my heart to cen- 
sure a young man of refined sensibilities and noble aims, 
{qt desiring to leave an inferior position in society. But 
it is not true that the young farmer is neglected, and 
looked down upon by those whose good opinion and whose 
company is w^orth having. Let the young man on the 
farm possess intelligence and moral worth ; let him culti- 
vate the social qualities that fit one foi" society, and there 
is no social circle so good, that he will not be w^elcomed 
to it, — no post of honor so high, that he ma}^ not aspire 
to it. True, the young man on his father's farm may not 
at once find himself duly ap])reciated T)y those who 
" learn the art of talking rather than of thinking ;" but 
let him be patient, and my word for it, he will find his 
level, and so \vW\ others. 

Dr. Hitchcock, of Amherst College, once said to far- 
mers, " Fluency in conversation is often in the inverse 
ratio of the amount of ideas in the mind ; and men often 
talk much, not because they are full of thoughts, but 
because they are destitute of them, just as a stream bub- 
bles most which has the letfet water in it.'' 

A young man may get into notice too soon, ripen too 



19 

early, live too fast. The man at sixteen is in danger of 
})eing a boy all the I'est of his days. Many receive all 
the consideration society has to l)estow, and have all the 
influence they are ever al)le to acquire, before they are 
twenty-five. Still, a mistaken view of what it is to rise 
in the world, doubtless turns many from the plow to 
other callings. 

These, and some other causes of minor importance, are 
making the farm unpopular with the sons of farmers. 
The rural districts slide into the village, — the village in 
turn helps to swell the large town, and the town pours its 
population into the metropolis, which, like the ocean, swal- 
lows up all its tri])utaries, and is never full. The changes 
that are taking place in many rural towns of New England 
cannot but be noticed by the observing ; and cannot faj.1 
to start sad reflections in the minds of the thoughtful. 

Look at Spain. Ferdinand and Isabella, according to 
Prescott, " evidently relied on agriculture as the main- 
spring of national prosperity." But Spain has degenera- 
ted, and agriculture and character have gone down 
togrether. You will now find " extensive districts smitten 
with the curse of barrenness, where the traveller scarcely 
discerns the vestige of a road, or of a human habitation, 
but which then teemed w^ith all that was requisite to the 
sustenance of populous cities in their neighborhood." 

The land of our fathers, though eminent in the art of 
agriculture, has undergone some changes in her rural 
population that must afiect unfavorably the farming com- 
munity. It is said that the soil of Old England, a hun- 
dred years ago, was owned by three hundred thousand 
proprietors. As Goldsmith sings, in his " Deserted Vil- 
lage :" 

" A time there was, ere England's woes began, 
When every rood of ground naaintained its man." 



20 

But the few have since bought out the iiiauy ; and now 
the soil of England is owned by onh' thirty-two thousand 
landlords. On an average, each has three hundred and 
five acres. The children of former landholders are now 
laborers on the \^ery estates their fathers owned. N(^» 
wonder that ignorance, poverty, and vice, prevail to an 
alarming extent. Let us take warning. 

There are parts of New England even now to Avhich 
the i)oet's words, with a slight variation, will apply — 

" Sweet smiling village, lovliest of the lawn, — 
Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn ; 
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen, 
And desolation saddens all thy green. 
One only master grasps the whole domain. 
And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain." 

In some towns, the number who own the soil is diminish- 
ing. Farm is joined to farm. One buys out his neighbor, 
and sending him to "the West," or to "the village," puts a 
tenant into the vacant house. He who kept twenty cows 
last year, keeps thirty this year, and hopes soon to keep 
forty ; while foreign laborers, in the field and in the house, 
take the place of native-born sons and daughters. 

Where farms are not thus run together, when the old 
fiirmer dies, his children sell the homestead to a stranger, 
who is too often inferior to tlie former occupant; and he, 
in turn, Avill probably sell to one socially, intellectually, 
and morally inferior to himself The result of these 
changes can be seen at a glance. The supporters of gos- 
pel institutions become few, disheartened, and perhaps 
penurious. The rural church, once well filled, is almost 
deserted, while the fields and woods are roamed over on 
the Sa])bath by those who " rememl)er'" the day only as 
one of visiting and carousal. The school dwindles, social 



21 

life degenerates, and all the dearest interests of society 
suffer. Improvement is out of tlie question, because all 
that is capable of improvement is elsewhere. 

And is there no remedy for these evils ? It seems to 
me there is, at least a partial remedy. We are educated 
into our opinions and tastes on many subjects, why, then, 
may not education work h change in the opinions and 
feelings of young men in relation to farming ? Education, 
rightly directed, would not fail to modify the views of 
the young respecting life, — its object and its blessings, and 
the means of securing them. Beginning at the right place 
in the process of education, it does not seem impossible to 
induce young men of good talents to remain on the soil 
which their ancestors cleared, and which was the scene of 
their own youthful sports. 

Cannot the young be taught to regard the objects of 
education something more and nobler than to teach them 
how to compete with rivals in a profession crowded almost 
to starvation; or to elbow their way into business ruin- 
ously overdone 'i " I hope," said one to Rothschild, " that 
your children are not too fond of money and business to 
the exclusion of more important things. I am sure you 
would not wish that." " I am sure I, should wish that," 
replied the banker, " I wish them to give mind, and soul, 
and heart, and l)ody, and everything to business ; that is 
the way to be happy." 

This is the doctrine practically taught in many families 
of our land. Let this pernicious error be early discarded ; 
and let rational and scriptural views of life be taught, 
" line upon line," by precept and by example, in that first 
and best school, the family. Let farmers teach their sons 
as John Higginson taught the second generation at Salem : 
" If any man among us make religion as twelve and the 
world as thirteen, let such an one know he hath neither 







the spirit of a tnie New Enij:laii(l man, nor yet of a sin- 
cere Chi'istian." " I confess," says a modern writer on 
Political Economy, " I am not charmed with the ideal of 
life held out l)y those who think that the normal state of 
human beings is that of struggling to ' get on ;' that the 
train]iling, crushing, elbowing and treading on each other's 
heels, which form the existing 'type of social life, are the 
most desirable lot of human kind, or anything but the 
disagreeable symptoms of one of the phases of industrial 
progress." 

What youth, wi#h a true Puritan education, can be 
"charmed" with such an "ideal of life?" Who can 
reg^ard it as the " hisrhest stvle of man ?" 

If we would keep a desirable number of young men 
on the green fields, we must teach them also to have 
resources within themselves, — to love to think, to see a 
charm in the wonderful and the beautiful of nature. 

It is a remarkable fact, that men of liberal education, 
for the most part, are fond of agriculture. Many clergy- 
men have cultivated land, — some, it Is to be feared, at the 
expense of their mental culture and professional study. 
Others, when no longer able to work efficiently in " God's 
husbandry," have wisely retired to small farms, 

" To husband out life's taper at the close, 
And keep the flame from wasting by repose." 

"I, who am old and emeritus," says Martin Luther, 
"would pi-efer now to take an old man's ])]ea8ure in gar- 
dening, and in contemplating the wonders of God in trees, 
flowers, herbs, and birds." 

Many jdiysicians love to experiment on the soil ; and 
almost all our eminent statesmen retire to some rural 
retreat, to spend the noon-day leisure of active life, and 



23 

the evening of old age. Witness Mount Vernon and 
the Hermitage, Ashland and Marshfield. 

In view of such facts as these, can it be doubted that 
the sons of farmers, — youth of noble minds, rich in social 
and moral worth, may be educated so as to love the hills 
and valleys of Hampshire and Berkshire ? Is there no 
power in the teaching of the family, the common school, 
the academy, and the college, to deck with beauty the 
velvet lawns, vocal groves, purling brooks, and silvery 
lakes of Western Massachusetts ? 

We must insist, too, on the dignity of farming, and its 
importance to the community, if we would make it popu- 
lar with farmers' sons. No young man of generous 
impulses and high aims will wish to spend his days in an 
inferior calling. 

Let it be impressed upon the young, that, by the ver- 
dict of mankind, agriculture is the most dignified employ- 
ment in which man can engage. We have seen that, 

" In ancient times, the sacred plow employed 
The kings, and awful fathers of mankind : 
And some, with whom compared, your insect tribes 
Are but the beings of a summer's day, 
Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm 
Of mighty war, then, with unweary hand, 
Disdaining little delicacies, seized 
The plow, and greatly independent lived." 

Nor has this ceased to be true. Our Presidents, when 
their term of office expires, generally retire to farms, and 
their laurels do not fade on their green fields. But what 
should we say of an Ex-President, who, on leaving the 
chair of state, should open a grocery store, or a broker's 
office in New York ? The incongruity between the dig- 
nity of the man and his business, would provoke in us all 



24 

more than a smile. But these men, wliom tlie people 
delii^ht to honor, may i-aise corn and ])otatoes, "Durham 
cows" and " Berkshire swine," and be iis "honorable men" 
as when they lived in the "White House" at Wash- 
ington. 

Who can doubt that the former's calling is honorable? 
He sustains the industrial interest, which Xapoleon re- 
garded as " the soul and first basis of the em})ire." 

Shall I now sketch a course of life, whicli it seems to 
me might be made attractive to a }'t>nug man 'i A son of 
a farmer, in good circumstances, attends school in the 
winter till he is seventeen. If he has the advantages of 
a High school or Academy, at^ that age he can be fitted 
for College. He spends four years in his collegiate course, 
at an expense to his father of a thousand dollars. The 
young man, at twenty-one, is graduated. He is a scholar 
of respectable standing, — has a well-disciplined mmd and 
a cultivated taste. He is familiar with Geology, Chemis- 
try, Botany, and kindi-ed sciences. Having no decided 
adai)tation for professional life, he retires to his father's 
farm. He reads and writes on agriculture. He analyzes 
soils, and api)lies his knowledge to the improvement of 
hind. The increased productiveness of the farm soon 
ci-eates a fund to pay the expenses of his education. He 
plants fruit trees. The hedge soon circles his paternal 
dwelling. He teaches the honeysuckle to creep over the 
front-dooi'. The huge rock, from which he jumped so 
often, when a boy, is soon covered with a grape vine, 
whose i)urple clusters astonish the neighbors, who have 
not yet ceased to laugh at " book farming." 

A colonade of elms or maples rises along the avenue, 
which leads from the road to the old farm-house, now 
repaired and painted. The evergreen here and there, 
through the long winter, reminds the family of beauty 



25 

departed from tlie face of Nature, and gives promise of 
its return. The book of History, the Eeview, the News- 
paper, make the winter evening short. The healthful 
labors in the open air, the application of knowledge to 
trees, and flowers, and soils, and stock, gives wings to 
summer hours. With a sound mind in a sound body, what 
can prevent this man from enjoying life as well as is con- 
sistent with his highest spiritual good ? Nothing, surely, 
but a wicked heart, which will spoil even the joys of 
Paradise. 

But it is not the whole of life to live. We should have 
some higher aim than merely to have a pleasant home 
and enjoy life. The question, therefore, is pertinent, 
Might such a young farmer, as has been described, be 
useful to the community ? Eminently useful, beyond a 
doubt. Every town needs just such men. Most rural 
towns are suffering, to-day, in all their dearest interests, 
for the want of men of this character. Such an intelli- 
gent, thoroughly-educated farmer could take the oversight 
of schools, and thus relieve overburdened professional 
men. A clergyman recently told me, that he spent sixty 
days in one year, acting as school committee. The edu- 
cated farmer might do a part, at least, of this woik. He 
might act, too, as a justice of the peace, and thus be a 
terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well. 
Upon such a gentleman, " Farmers' Clubs" and " Young 
Men's Associations" might call for a lecture ; and thus 
relieve some metropolitan divine from the pressure of 
seven hundred invitations to lecture, in a single winter. 
Such a man would honor his native town as their repre- 
sentative to the " Great and General Court ;" or he might 
be a Senator, to whom the title of Honorable would not 
be misapplied. He could do his own thinking at the 
seat of Government, and perhaps help others, not to theii* 
4 



26 

injury or to that of the Commonwealth. We need, in our 
halls of legislation, men of this character, — men of honest 
ends and comprehensive views, — as the Germans would 
call them, '^ all-sided." 

One or two such farmers could be useful in every 
school district. They would build up and adorn society. 
They would be free from small prejudices, — would take 
sound, comprehensive, and far-seeing views of interests 
relating to schools, the town, the religious society, and 
public alfaii'S in general. If such a man were a true 
Christian, as he should be, he would be a pillar in the 
Church. He would gather around him a class of youth 
in the Sabbath school, and many a young man would 
" rise up and call him blessed." 

As I view the matter, such men would be worth to a 
town more than the cost of their education at the public 
charge. It would be a good investment for a town to 
keep two or three promising youth at school and at col- 
lege all the time, provided they would return at the age 
of twenty-one, and settle on farms in their native town. 

But it is not to be presumed that the education of far- 
mers' sons will, in many cases, be carried so far as this ; 
though many might be thus educated, if farmers thought 
so, and appreciated a thorough education according to its 
true value. Yet, supposing the son does not go to col- 
lege, let him discipline his mind and cultivate his taste in 
the academy ; let him attend the lectures of Professors of 
Ai^riculture ; let him study long enough to develop a 
fonchiess for learning, a thirst for kno^\-ledge, a love of 
thought. Keep the son at school till he has acquired a 
little relish for retirement and for reading, and has cor- 
rected his false notions of life ; and a j^art of our young 
yeomanry will remain at home, — will make their fathers' 
places good, yea, more than good. 



2t 

TMs secured, much will be done to raise agi-iculture in 
the public estimation, and to improve the intellectual, 
social, and moral condition of the whole community. It 
is time for the farmer to magnify his calling. By earnest 
efforts after knowledge, by a deep interest in public 
improvements, by having a large heart and a liberal 
hand, he must show himself a man. 

The New England farmer occupies a high and respon- 
sible position ; let him remember that corresponding obli- 
gations are upon him. Let him watch the first symptoms 
of degeneracy among the tillers of the soil, and apply the 
most effectual remedies that his wisdom can devise ; lest 
some poet, moralizing on the decay of society, shall sing 
over these hills and along these valleys, 

" 111 fares the land to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay. 
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade ; 
A breath can make them as a breath has made : 
But a bold peasantiy, their country's pride, 
When once destroyed, can never be supplied." 



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